This time my subject needed casual photos for her project. So, we went with a white background. However, we did not communicate well, and I set up a white background and she came in with a white shirt. Granted, I could edit in processing to make that white shirt appear but in the long run it would be easier to have her change shirts, a request she obliged.
In photography, as with pretty much any other profession, you need to learn to communicate and communicate effectively. That’s why schools any in given country stress whatever language they deal with. In fact, I’d be so bold to say that language arts is a heck of a lot more important to the general population then any other subject because that is that the base you will start from when you present pretty much any other thing you deal with. You can go a long way in this world with good communication skills.
Which brings me back to photography, be sure you communicate everything you need to communicate with the people you are working with. If you are doing a family photo session, advise everyone what will work with what you have in mind. If you got someone to be your assistant, communicate what you expect of them. And if you have a white background, make sure you communicate to the model that they should not wear a white shirt.
In this scenario, only time was lost (though I am finding time is worth more then gold lately) but had this been a paid gig away from the studio and the model did not have a change of clothes, then that would have been a problem for me created by me. Don’t get me wrong, I’d of solved it, changing the backdrop is almost as easy as changing a shirt, but that would have taken time and I want to spend as much time taking pictures.